Anomalies and Curiosities of Medicine [21]
herself, and was delivered of a living child. Another case was that of a female, aged twenty-three, who had an extra long vaginal canal, probably accounting for the absence of pregnancy. She made injections of semen, and was finally delivered of a child. He also reports the case of a distinguished musician who, by reason of hypospadias, had never impregnated his wife, and had resorted to injections of semen with a favorable result. This latter case seems hardly warranted when we consider that men afflicted with hypospadias and epispadias have become fathers. Percy gives the instance of a gentleman whom he had known for some time, whose urethra terminated a little below the frenum, as in other persons, but whose glans bulged quite prominently beyond it, rendering urination in the forward direction impossible. Despite the fact that this man could not perform the ejaculatory function, he was the father of three children, two of them inheriting his penile formation.
The fundamental condition of fecundity being the union of a spermatozoid and an ovum, the object of artificial impregnation is to further this union by introducing semen directly to the fundus of the uterus. The operation is quite simple and as follows: The husband, having been found perfectly healthy, is directed to cohabit with his wife, using a condom. The semen ejaculated is sucked up by an intrauterine syringe which has been properly disinfected and kept warm. The os uteri is now exposed and wiped off with some cotton which has been dipped in an antiseptic fluid; introduced to the fundus of the uterus, and some drops of the fluid slowly expressed into the uterus. The woman is then kept in bed on her back. This operation is best carried out immediately before or immediately after the menstrual epoch, and if not successful at the first attempt should be repeated for several months. At the present day artificial impregnation in pisciculture is extensively used with great success.
{footnote} The following extraordinary incident of accidental impregnation, quoted from the American Medical Weekly by the Lancet, is given in brief, not because it bears any semblance of possibility, but as a curious example from the realms of imagination in medicine.
L. G. Capers of Vicksburg, Miss., relates an incident during the late Civil War, as follows: A matron and her two daughters, aged fifteen and seventeen years, filled with the enthusiasm of patriotism, stood ready to minister to the wounds of their countrymen in their fine residence near the scene of the battle of R----, May 12, 1863, between a portion of Grant's army and some Confederates. During the fray a gallant and noble young friend of the narrator staggered and fell to the earth; at the same time a piercing cry was heard in the house near by. Examination of the wounded soldier showed that a bullet had passed through the scrotum and carried away the left testicle. The same bullet had apparently penetrated the left side of the abdomen of the elder young lady, midway between the umbilicus and the anterior superior spinous process of the ilium, and had become lost in the abdomen. This daughter suffered an attack of peritonitis, but recovered in two months under the treatment administered.
Marvelous to relate, just two hundred and seventy-eight days after the reception of the minie-ball, she was delivered of a fine boy, weighing 8 pounds, to the surprise of herself and the mortification of her parents and friends. The hymen was intact, and the young mother strenuously insisted on her virginity and innocence. About three weeks after this remarkable birth Dr. Capers was called to see the infant, and the grandmother insisted that there was something wrong with the child's genitals. Examination showed a rough, swollen, and sensitive scrotum, containing some hard substance. He operated, and extracted a smashed and battered minie-ball. The doctor, after some meditation, theorized in this manner: He concluded that this was the same ball that had carried away the testicle of his young friend, that had penetrated the
The fundamental condition of fecundity being the union of a spermatozoid and an ovum, the object of artificial impregnation is to further this union by introducing semen directly to the fundus of the uterus. The operation is quite simple and as follows: The husband, having been found perfectly healthy, is directed to cohabit with his wife, using a condom. The semen ejaculated is sucked up by an intrauterine syringe which has been properly disinfected and kept warm. The os uteri is now exposed and wiped off with some cotton which has been dipped in an antiseptic fluid; introduced to the fundus of the uterus, and some drops of the fluid slowly expressed into the uterus. The woman is then kept in bed on her back. This operation is best carried out immediately before or immediately after the menstrual epoch, and if not successful at the first attempt should be repeated for several months. At the present day artificial impregnation in pisciculture is extensively used with great success.
{footnote} The following extraordinary incident of accidental impregnation, quoted from the American Medical Weekly by the Lancet, is given in brief, not because it bears any semblance of possibility, but as a curious example from the realms of imagination in medicine.
L. G. Capers of Vicksburg, Miss., relates an incident during the late Civil War, as follows: A matron and her two daughters, aged fifteen and seventeen years, filled with the enthusiasm of patriotism, stood ready to minister to the wounds of their countrymen in their fine residence near the scene of the battle of R----, May 12, 1863, between a portion of Grant's army and some Confederates. During the fray a gallant and noble young friend of the narrator staggered and fell to the earth; at the same time a piercing cry was heard in the house near by. Examination of the wounded soldier showed that a bullet had passed through the scrotum and carried away the left testicle. The same bullet had apparently penetrated the left side of the abdomen of the elder young lady, midway between the umbilicus and the anterior superior spinous process of the ilium, and had become lost in the abdomen. This daughter suffered an attack of peritonitis, but recovered in two months under the treatment administered.
Marvelous to relate, just two hundred and seventy-eight days after the reception of the minie-ball, she was delivered of a fine boy, weighing 8 pounds, to the surprise of herself and the mortification of her parents and friends. The hymen was intact, and the young mother strenuously insisted on her virginity and innocence. About three weeks after this remarkable birth Dr. Capers was called to see the infant, and the grandmother insisted that there was something wrong with the child's genitals. Examination showed a rough, swollen, and sensitive scrotum, containing some hard substance. He operated, and extracted a smashed and battered minie-ball. The doctor, after some meditation, theorized in this manner: He concluded that this was the same ball that had carried away the testicle of his young friend, that had penetrated the